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Thailand is one of the world’s hottest travel destinations. Almost 40 million tourists a year visit the country’s beaches, see its scenery, soak in its nightlife and eat its world-class cuisine.

Because of its attractions and affordability, Thailand is increasingly a destination of choice for a new group of visitors: the digital nomad generation.

Are You a Digital Nomad?

Digital nomads are people whose work doesn’t require them to be in one place – all they need is an Internet connection and they’re good to go. That freedom has given millions the opportunity to live out their dreams and travel the world – all while holding down a full-time remote job.

In short, digital nomads live and work where they want, instead of living where work wants them to.

Your parents couldn’t be digital nomads; they lived in a world of typewriters, file cabinets, conference rooms and awkward water-cooler conversations. When they went on vacation, they packed their AM radios, travelers’ checks and cameras with extra film – oh, and stacks of paper maps.

You, on the other hand, live in a world with smartphones, laptops, cloud computing, VoIP communications, high-speed wireless Internet and VPN services. Almost all the information and resources you need to travel and work are on your electronic devices, which means you can both pack light and stay connected at the same time.

Thanks to 21st-century technologies, casual travelers and committed digital nomads alike spend time at far-flung destinations doing freelance work, making sales, doing expert consulting and even managing entire businesses. If you can do work on a computer or phone, you can do it wherever you please as a digital nomad.

Digital Nomads and Thailand

For digital nomads, Thailand is one of the most popular destinations in the world to set up shop. At just a couple hundred bucks in rent each month, you can enjoy the lifestyle, nightlife, weather and local food you can only dream of at home.

However, before you give back your apartment keys and head to Thailand, there are a few things you ought to know about the Internet there. While the country is beautiful, it does pose a few roadblocks to a successful digital nomad lifestyle – namely, lack of access to a free, secure Internet.

Unfortunately, the government of Thailand isn’t nearly as carefree and accommodating as the country as a whole. Though a monarchy, Thailand has been under military rule since a coup took place against the elected government in 2014. Especially since then, Thai citizens lack the same free speech rights that Westerners enjoy. Alarmingly, their government has also ramped up monitoring and censorship of residents online.

Here are some of the things the Thai government has done recently on that front:

Blocked websites hosting materials critical of the King or government

Censored pornographic materials or news from foreign press outlets

Monitored private communications with or without a court order

Forced email through an unencrypted port – i.e., “downgrading”

Used IMSIs to capture data from devices in a particular area

That’s not all. Thailand is also known for having highly unsecured public Wi-Fi connections. These unencrypted wireless hotspots abound throughout the country – and though they may seem like an easy way to access the web without overloading your cellular data plan, you may want to think twice before connecting without protection. Hackers, snoopers and online criminals are all over these hotspots, scanning for unencrypted emails, passwords and credit card information that they can steal from you.

How Can I Protect Myself Online?

Well, you could just stop doing sensitive work online, tiptoe around censors with your browsing, only shop at a local Thai brick-and-mortar store, and miss out on all of the streaming entertainment you’re used to at home.

Or youcould sign up for a VPN. With a good VPN, you can access the web with total anonymityand connect to websites as though you were located anywhere else on the planet.

Here’s how a VPN helps you be a successful digital nomad:

A VPN acts as a secure “tunnel” connection that encryptsall your data. SaferVPN, for its part, uses 256-bit bank-level encryption to make sure that your data is completely inaccessible to anyone “tapping in” on your connection.

A VPN gives you an anonymous IP address. By routing your connection through a secondary server, it spits out an IP address that the rest of the world can never identify as belonging to you.

Your new IP address also allows you to connect to websites as though you were in another country. Whichever server you run your connection through, that’s the country it’ll appear to outside websites – e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Amazon – you’re in. SaferVPN has 700 servers in over 34 countries, so our users have their pick of places from which to connect.

None of this means you should be careless online. But the whole point of being a digital nomad is embracing freedom, not walking on eggshells as you travel the world.

This summer, SaferVPN is offering its users an unheard-of deal – 73 percent off a two-year subscription. For less than $3 a month, you can now enjoy free access to the Internet through the safest, fastest and most secure VPN service around.

The life of a digital nomad awaits. This summer, don’t forget your plane ticket, your sunscreen and your phone charger – and don’t forget to protect yourself online as you travel.